low budget business ideas

[joey h]

Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone could please help me come up with some low budget business ideas. I've got about $2000- $3000 to invest if need be but I was hoping to do something for as cheap as possible. I'm 23 and sick of working crappy jobs.
One good idea I've got is a hot dog cart. I've heard those guys can make $40k-60k a year in only 6 months in the summer but I live in Winnipeg, MB, Canada and summer's almost over here so I think I'll have to wait til next year.
Another idea I'm a little uncertain about is vending machines but I'm not sure I'll make enough. I think $2000 can get me about 20 quarter machines that could make me between $500 to $1000 a month with about 10-20 hours work.
Anyway if anyone has any business ideas it would be greatly appreciated.

[PumpedUp]

my friend recently bought a hot dog stand and sets it up outside of the bars on the weekends. He paid $4,000 and in 4 weekends made back his weekend, drunks and food make for big profits.

[joey h]

wow that's awesome. Maybe I could make this a year round thing. Thanks man. Where do you live?

[paul2145r]

That's not a bad idea!

Hot dog stands can make good money, just make sure that you are aware of all of the rules and regulations when it comes to selling food in your city. There are often a myriad of rules and certifications that you have to have to sell concessions as an independent business. You can always just 'ignore' a few of them to make a buck, but I recommend following them to a "T" if you plan on making this a full-time occupation.

[smokeyjoe4848]

Well if your into physical labor....open a garage and attic cleaning business...you can even expand it to organizing their attics and stuff like that...my friend did this and its grown tremendously in our area id say hes making around 15000 a month and he has people working for him now so hes not doing much...

[joey h]

yeah that's a good idea too. I thought about that before too. Junk removal. I guess all you really need is a truck and a buddy.

[joey h]

any other ideas? i'm totally down for the hot dog stand.

[smokeyjoe4848]

I just gave my friend a call and we had a nice talk about it...he says hes netting about 12000 a month..and he started the business two years with 500 dollars...he had an old beat down pickup and he bought a pair of gloves and a dolly for 50 dollars and spent the other 450 on advertising

[Amit.Shah]

I don't know how involved you'd like to become with a business, but depending on your location and dedication:

I bet you could start a college based business, that requires a upfront payment, per semester. Like a college laundry business, or a 24/7 snack delivery service? It's not original, but it's been proven successful with little investment needed.

If you get the students [to get their parents to pay] upfront, then you'll have some money to play with, and you'll know how much you'll be getting pretty much off the line.

Just food for thought. I'm still working on finding the right idea with a small investment required!

Amit.Shah

[joey h]

I just gave my friend a call and we had a nice talk about it...he says hes netting about 12000 a month..and he started the business two years with 500 dollars...he had an old beat down pickup and he bought a pair of gloves and a dolly for 50 dollars and spent the other 450 on advertising

thank you. that's a great idea. i was also thinking along the lines of snow removal and landscaping.

[joey h]

I don't know how involved you'd like to become with a business, but depending on your location and dedication:

I bet you could start a college based business, that requires a upfront payment, per semester. Like a college laundry business, or a 24/7 snack delivery service? It's not original, but it's been proven successful with little investment needed.

If you get the students [to get their parents to pay] upfront, then you'll have some money to play with, and you'll know how much you'll be getting pretty much off the line.

Just food for thought. I'm still working on finding the right idea with a small investment required!

Amit.Shah

I'm sorry Amit. I'm not sure what exactly you mean. I used to live in Banff, AB and there's a business there that delivers pretty much anything like food and stuff so that's not a bad idea but I don't know how's i'd do that in winnipeg. thanks for the advice though. it's definately a possibility.

[joey h]

any more ideas?

[GoBIGJosh]

Find something that isn't seasonal. Hotdog stand is seasonal, unless you like standing in the cold. The same goes with snow removal.

I like the junk and cleaning idea. Cleaning out boxes, and attics. Also, helping moving. Be a point to point mover within a city, willing to be physical labor for that kind of thing could be a cheap investment that you could get into quickly.

College businesses always work too. The laundry service is a bomb idea, and I wish i would have had a cheap way to get my laundry done, esp during finals

[PumpedUp]

I live in California so it's pretty warm year round, but I agree there'd be atleast 3 or 4 months where you'd be out.

You good with computers? Pass out fliers around the neighborhood and clean up people's computers (recycling bin, etc.) You can charge $50+ an hour (which is still cheaper than Geek Squad). Just makre sure to get a good contract, which limits your liability.


I am in the process of starting a tour company ( I live in a pretty scenic area), it requires a higher investment but it's worth looking into.

[silversurfer]

I met a guy who had a hot dog cart in our city. He grossed a lot, but only netted about $45k after licenses, food, etc. Where we live you can apply for an space to work in, but the city decides whether or not there are too many in one space and can reject where you want to set up. They are definitely year-round where I live. You definitely have to pay for a food handling license and food handling classes, that's a given just about everywhere.

But what about a popcorn cart or a burrito cart?

Now a Loooong time I ago I met a woman who was an office clerk/secretary. She bought a Coffee Cart that was like a kiosk. She rented space in suburban office buildings and hired two women to work the carts. She made something like $1500 per month per car net profit- less than $100 per day. She was not a smart woman, pretty much a secretary, but she got this idea from some kind of franchise class she took. I remember she said she spent her lunch hour driving supplies to these carts. The thing was I believed her numbers because she lamented how much work she did per cart and how she kept thinking her employees were skimming. But this was almost 10 years ago.